Kale & Red Pepper Bites

These are fantastic little crispy bites, with whole grains, lentils, kale, onion, red pepper, and flavoured with Italian herbs. The grain and lentils all cook together into a fabulously textured kind of porridge which is an amazing base to make burgers, and sausages with.    Perfect for parties, lunchboxes or just snacks to keep in the fridge when hunger strikes!

Kale and Red Pepper Bites2

The other ingredients are then just stirred in and I used a mini muffin tray for easily shaped and uniform results.

mini muffin tray

Impossible to eat just one!  We love them topped with hummus and a red pepper relish.

Kale and Red Pepper Bites

Kale & Red Pepper Bites
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Crispy and delicious, this little bites are perfect party or lunchbox items
Author:
Serves: 30-34
Ingredients
  • ½ cup medium grain brown rice
  • ¼ cup millet
  • ¼ cup split red lentils
  • ¼ cup quinoa
  • 1 box of frozen kale
  • 1 red capsicum, finely diced
  • 1 large onion, finely diced
  • 1 tsp Italian dried herb mix
  • ½ tsp garlic granules
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 tablespoon low sodium tamari / soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of tahini - optional
  • juice of half a lemon
  • zest of a whole lemon
  • ¼ cup ground almonds - optional (makes them more crispy but you can leave out for school lunchboxes).
  • Equipment: mini 24-cup muffin pan
  • Sesame seeds - optional
Instructions
  1. Rinse the grains and lentils in a fine sieve under running water for a couple of minutes.
  2. Place them in a rice cooker (or saucepan - but you may need to add an extra half a cup of water before the grains are fully cooked, depending on how tight fitting the lid is) with 3 cups of water, and put it on to cook.
  3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. / 375 Fahrenheit.
  4. Meanwhile, put the kale into a sieve over (in which the sieve will be enclosed) and cover in boiling water.
  5. Place a large frying pan over a medium heat, and "fry" the capsicum and onion, adding a splash of water or stock to stop them sticking. Do not allow to get too moist. Once softened after a few minutes, add the herbs and garlic. Cook until the moisture has evaporated out and the vegetables are fairly dry but not sticking to the pan.
  6. Drain the kale, and squeeze all the water out of it with your hands - I find it easiest to do this in 3 or 4 small handfuls, and set aside.
  7. Once the grains are cooked, (they should be fairly dry also) tip them into a large bowl, and tip in the contents of the frying pan. Sprinkle in the kale, breaking up any lumps, then add the nutritional yeast, tamari, tahini, lemon, zest & almonds and thoroughly mix (clean hands are best for this!).
  8. Sprinkle some sesame seeds if using into the bottom of each muffin hole, then pack the mixture firmly on top, pushing down to ensure no air pockets which will stop them coming out cleanly. Sprinkle some more sesame seeds on top.
  9. Pop into the top of the oven for 20 minutes. Take out, allow to sit for 5 minutes then invert the tray onto a cooling rack, making sure they all come out (you might need to loosen stubborn ones around the side with a plastic knife), place that on top of a baking tray and then pop back in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp up the bottoms.
  10. My mixture made 34, so you can use the tray again to use up the mixture for another 6-10 bites.